Last Stand at Fornovo

The group of five players from Game #4 (see Still Fornovocating) returned to the table in Game #6 for a rematch.  Doug and Stephen switched sides while Mark, Brian, and Alan switched commands. 

Battle lines drawn.

The commands for Game #6 are illustrated in the photo below.

Army deployments and player commands 

While the French skirmishers and cavalry deploy,
its infantry marches on. 

French King Charles VIII prepares for the attack
he expects to fall upon his army.

The Italian League's Right awaits
orders to cross the Taro River.

The battle opens with Gonzaga sending one of his two bodies of Men-at-Arms (MAA) straight away across the Taro River and into the center of the French battleline.  Almost without effort, a French gun is overrun and the MAA carry on into de Gie's Gendarmes.  Fighting is fierce as the two bodies of heavily armored horsemen clash.  The first melee of the battle sees de Gie gaining an upper hand.  The Italians are forced back with de Gie in hot pursuit.  The Italian nobles are caught from behind and scattered.  From the opposite bank of the Taro, Gonzaga looks on as his initial attack is repulsed and his MAA destroyed.  The battle is not opening in the manner in which he envisioned.

Italian MAA charge into the guns...

overrun them and crash into de Gie's Gendarmes.

De Gie drives the enemy back... 

and then scatters the Italians in pursuit. 

On the Italian Left, de Monotone's MAA emerge from the ford and charge into the King's Gendarmes.  The clash is decided quickly as the Italians, still disordered from crossing the ford, are cut down quickly as the King leads his Gendarmes into battle.  The survivors of de Montone's MAA are driven back across the river.  They are done for the day.   

With his cavalry streaming back across the river, de Montone orders his infantry to cross the Taro.  Before the infantry can climb up the opposite bank, they are struck by a second body of Gendarmes and driven back across the Taro.  In the early going, two Italian cavalry charges end with two Italian bodies of horsemen destroyed.  This may be an uphill fight! 

De Montone attacks and his MAA are
 destroyed by the King's Gendarmes.

De Montone's infantry are stalled
 in their attempt to cross the Taro.

Gonzaga remains undaunted.

Sending mounted crossbow across the river, the Italian light cavalry overrun a second French gun.  With Caiazzo's light cavalry on the Italian Right harassing de Gie's French Wing, Caiazzo brings his German pikemen across the Taro to support Gonzaga's light cavalry in the center.

A second French gun is overrun...

while German pikemen advance into the French Center.

Overview of battle situation.

As the Germans plod forward in their dense formation, de Gie leads his Gendarmes into a frontal attack against this formidable foe.  Despite the heavy fighting and scoring four hits (blue die) against the French, de Gie overcomes the odds and drives the Germans back with very heavy losses.  The Germans retreat with only about half of the infantry they maintained moments before.

More despair for the Italians.

de Gie attacks the German pike block...

driving them off in great disorder and with great loss.

Still the Italians come on!  Gonzaga brings his infantry across the Taro as the river continues to rise.  After witnessing his Germans manhandled by de Gie's Gendarmes, Caiazzo leads his MAA through the river and into the now wavering Gendarmes.  In a flash, de Gie's Gendarmes are scattered and de Gie lays dead on the field.  In pursuit of de Gie's fleeing cavalry, Caiazzo cuts a wide swath through the French battle line.  French skirmishers are cut down and the French Army is split in two! 

Gonzaga brings his infantry across.

Caiazzo leads his MAA against de Gie.

With his army now split, the King brings up his infantry in an attempt to reclaim the center.  Heavy fighting ensues as the two armies batter each other.  Both armies are beginning to waver but neither will yield.  Gonzaga chooses this moment to decide the battle.  Leading his MAA into the rapidly rising waters of the Taro, he fails to gain the opposite bank.  The infantry clash continues.  Again, Gonzaga attempts to emerge from the raging river.  Again, he is stymied.

Brutal fighting in the center.

On his third attempt, Gonzaga finally emerges from the river to engage the King.  The hand-to-hand clash lasts many rounds as each body is slowly ground down.  Who will blink first?  The French King! 

King Charles breaks off combat and heads for the rear.  Exhausted, Gonzaga cannot pursue.  With both armies teetering on collapse, here the battle ends.  We call it a draw.

Mano-a-Mano

King Charles in retreat!

What a great game on which to end the series of Fornovo battles! 

While many of the five previous contests were close seeing many coming down to the wire, none saw such an even erosion of army morale like this one.  Like two heavyweight prize fighters in the ring, both armies kept battering each other with neither wanting to yield.  Ending in a draw seemed a reasonable conclusion to such a hard fight.  The Italians got off to a very Rocky start (see what I did there?), but they valiantly fought themselves back into the game.

The battle ebbed and flowed throughout and fate of the Dice Gods reared its ugly head more than once.  Fortune smiled upon the players as well.

Thanks to the five players for another very entertaining and action-packed game.  Great fun!  Hopefully all enjoyed fighting this action a second time as much as I enjoyed watching the battle unfold.  With six games' worth of trials and lots of data upon which to ponder, I plan to return with final thoughts on the scenario and play when time permits.

Now it is time to retire Fornovo and consider something new.